Rich people are less ethical, survey says

Share this Article

A new study says rich people are more likely to engage in unethical behaviour than their poorer counterparts ‘ like cutting off motorists, lying in a negotiation and cheating to win a prize.

That’s the finding from researchers at the University of California and the University of Toronto, published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

In two tests, researchers found that upper-class drivers were more likely to cut off other cars and pedestrians at crosswalks. In another series of tests involving undergraduate students and adults, researchers found that those who considered themselves “upper class” were more likely to take valued items from others.